19th-25th September

Can you tell I have lost interest in typing up the log daily. As we have intermittent internet we have to type it on the iPad which I have now grown to detest. How can one detest an item of technology. Well you can when you put in one word and it auto corrects to some mea ingress random tripe. See what i mean...That's how...

Anyhow, back to the trip. We flew to Beijing via Singapore. As we have a round the world ticket we are beholden to the airlines and their hubs.
We landed in Beijing and once we made it through immigration, which took a while as there were hoards of people. We grabbed our luggage and had to search for the guy with our name on a placard. As there were two of us, I searched the left, Ric searched the right. A good bit down we found our guy who speaks no English.
We got into his car and headed for the hotel we booked online. The cleanliness was a vast difference to India and Nepal. We arrived to the hotel where they also spoke little English and really weren't overly helpful. Our room however was fabulous and clean with a huge bed. Of course the only English channel on tv is the news channel, which repeats every hour.
So we are in Beijing, Ric's mission is get a train to Lhasa. My mission is to visit a few of the historical sites: summer palace, tianamen square, forbidden city and the great wall. Most importantly to do so at our leisure.
Having done such a world wind two week tour we are absolutely exhausted. Each morning we sleep in until five minutes before they stop serving breakfast which is ten. Then we change the plans we made the night before as we are now late. So by about noon we stroll out enroute to one monument or the other. We have learned how to barter, basically reduce by 70% and stick to it. Then walk away and they come after you with a reasonable price.
In India Ric couldn't wait for chi exes food. His mind was quickly changed when menu after menu was difficult, but mainly had innards of fish...??? They seem to love sea cucumber for some reason. By day two we figured things out, the metro, the bartering, the right times to saunter through the sites.... The next day we aim to visit The Great Wall. We must also check out of our comfy hotel and check into Leo hostel. Quite the contrast, but we figured as they are booking our Lhasa trip and getting our soft sleeper train tickets, if we are there, it is less likely that we will be shafted...we hope!
The great wall
Up early, no breakfast. Ric is brave doing is expedition with me. Metro to the train station. Find the ticket booth and wait and wait and wait. Ask in pigeon Chinese where the ticket booth to Badaling is.ahhh, of course it is two lines to the left and isn't moving. So bag this and we hop on the metro to the bust station. The buses leave every 10 minutes. Just get the 919. Easy enough. Find the 919 stickers. Must be right, there are other foreigners waiting. Chinese guy baks at us to move further down for 919. So off we go like a herd of cattle. Finally we see a slew of 919 buses. We all line up and try to get on one Nd the conductress barks at us 877. We all say no919 she says 877. There are now about 15 of us. We are now comrades in arms who don't want to get shafted. So we all pay and board the bus. Then Our trustee hong kong lady who thankfully speaks English and mandarin, says that yes we should get on the 877. So we all sheepishly bundle off the. Us, bit not with out getting our refund. Ha, thatwill teach them to mess with a group of foreigners. So we all lined up for the 877.
The ride was comfortable enough, all instructions were in Chinese, hing kong lady helped us again. When we got off the bus she have us her card, she is actually a travel agent back in hong kong. She is on holiday with her family of about ten. It hS taken them three days to finally get to the wall. So we ate lucky on our first try at using the local transport.
I am quite sure Ric mentioned the stats of the wall. I was upset with the wee beautiful bears that they have in very poor conditions. You can throw food form the, for a price. Ric of course through and apple and was approached by the bear keeper to pAy. Ric played dumb foreigner and showed his credit card. I eventually walked away and so did Ric. We the went to booth further upmand paid cash for our entrance to the wall. We went to the furtherest point so that we could walk up to the top. I had a crazy notion of wanting to do hAlf the great wall marathon. Fortunately it already passed. I was wondering why people were holding onto the side railings further up. Well I eventually found out why. These guys were crazy. It is so steep at some points, that if you don't hold on you will slide back down, literally.
We took each bit, flight by flight. This included resting in between. My thighs muscles were burning. But it felt good as we have only been walking pretty much as our exercise recently. Not that great as seasoned "triathletes".
We clearly went up the part that guides told everyone else not to take. But we reached the top ninteless to a trapse of people. I got out the Grenadian flag. This guy and his wife wanted pictures with us the. Asked the country name. Of course their expressions were completely blank. We are used to this at this point. At least in India if you mentioned the west indies they mentioned cricket. Here, not so much.

At the top, we became kids again and ran up and down the slighted slopes,using the downward momentum to get us up the slopes. We were naigh and took the slide car down. Think of a very old, slow ride at an old amusement park. We got down and cued up for the 877 back. We slept most of the hour and half ride back. Oh and my breakfast consisted of ritz crackers and a whole roasted sweet potato. I really didn't feel like some random street meat.
We made it back to cheng dong and mozied down the street where we found a dim sum restaurant. We ordered shrimp dim sum and sautéed snow peas. Perfect end tom out trek. We then went down to Helens restAurant across from Leo hostel for lemon and sugar crepes and some rum and vodka.
We should be leaving the next evening for Lhasa on the train if we get the train tickets. I got the call from " noodles".yes we got the soft sleeper,bottom bunks and in the same cabin. Score. We are off.
We spent pretty much the whole day preparing for the train trip then chilled out and watched the holy grail, a month python production. We hopped in a taxi at the end of our street and headed to Beijing west railway station. It was like an airport. As the information is also in English it made this part of the trip a doddle.
Once on the train with our luggage stowed, we settled in for a 44 hour train journey. FYI,no one speaks English, thankfully we have our china guidebook and a sheet of phrases.the most important is for Ric. He is deathly allergic to mushroom. A waitress kindly wrote it chinese characters for us. Literally a life saver!
Ais

Tea for Two 18/09

With no schedule to follow we crawled out of our slumber after 9 and following a leisurely breakfast we didn't leave the hotel until after 1pm. Back on the Metro and a spot of shopping.

I have been urging Ais to get a tattoo for the longest time and she finally cracked. We found a reputable artiste and she chose a very intricate design, however the words RicRox can be clearly made out across her buttocks and I really like it...pictures will follow*

After our 2 weeks of slumming it, it was time for a reality check so Afternoon Tea at the Imperial Hotel was booked. We dressed as smart as our duffels allowed and settled in at the Atrium, unfortunately the hotel made the mistake of serving it buffet style, fortunately I could eat a horse, unfortunately they weren't serving horse, fortunately they were serving sandwiches, bhaji's, cheese, pickles, smoked salmon, prosciutto, chicken, scones, clotted creme, jam, eclairs, cake, creme brûlée, more cake, cookies, cake still, oh and Assam tea- my new favourite brew as the coffee here is shite.

* ok so it was only in Henna
and no it wasn't anywhere near her derrière
and maybe it didn't have any words
but a tattoo nevertheless

We took a small tour of the hotel and rooms under the guise of a couple looking for a wedding venue, it is a beautiful hotel.
The sun was setting so we headed back to the hotel to catch up on the blog and organise for our next country... China
I could murder a Chow Mein.

Sunday 18th September

Ahhhhhh, late to rise. We just made breakfast and decided to head into the Market at Carol Bagh. We just took our time strolling around. I finally got henna done on my left hand. It took him five minutes to do a beautiful design. And then we had to sit for 30 minutes to let it set. I had the top of my hand and my fingers done. It cost 150rps. I was a little disappointed as it was so light when he took the dried paste off. Apparently it darkens day by day. Phew.
We hopped back on the metro into Rajiv Chowk (Connaught place) to check out what was playing at the odeon. Ah, the bodyguard. We then walked towards the Imperial Hotel on Janpath street. We walked and walked but did not happen upon the hotel. Note to self, Indian police have no idea as to what the names of their streets are or how to read a map or give directions.
Grab a tuk tuk driver but work out your price first.

We arrived to the Imperial ready for high tea. After 14 days on the road, this was our treat. We earned it and it was amazing!  The hotel was just stunning.  The smell of Jasmine filled the air all over. I chose to have Jasmine tea. Each cup they poured was piping hot and delicious. My favourite was the gazpacho shooters and the curry puff pastry from the extensive buffet
We then got a tour of the hotel at which time there was a bit of commotion as 2 movie stars arrived. One, a big Bollywood star and some chick from Jurassic park. We saw them in the atrium when we were leaving but we are still not sure who they are. 

We made it back to the hotel and just relaxed, fully satiated. Some of the others from the group were heading out that night, so we met for a quick drink to say goodbye.
That's it for the only part of the trip was a tour. Now it is just Ric and me.
May the adventure continue...China tomorrow!
Ais

Saturday 17th September

The last day of our tour. It is bitter sweet. We had a quick breakfast, got settled and headed out on a quick orientation of Delhi. We took the metro into town. Very civilised. I travelled up front in the ladies only compartment in wonderful air conditioning. The metro stations are all very clean, the train rides is very, very smooth indeed. Other rail systems could take a leaf out of this book by using the reusable tokens. Forget the ridiculous amount of paper tickets, such a waste!
We had a quick walk around the outside of the parliament, ministerial and presidential buildings. As it was so hot we hopped in a tuk tuk down to India gate. It was about 1km away, but the heat was unforgiving and we were all sans water.
We proceeded into Connaught place. I think we are shopped out. We all did our own thing for the rest of the afternoon. Ric and I went down to the Palak bazaar which is underground of connaught place. Pretty much everything we didn't want was for sale down there. We then hopped on the metro back to our hotel. We got freshened up and met the group for our last meal together.

It was the restaurant called Spicy by Nature. The service was fantastic, and the food was absolutely delicious. I would highly recommend it. We did a chilli off which left us all with Angelina Jolie lips by the end of it all.
We headed back to the hotel where we had a glass of rum to bid our guide, Abhi, adieu. He has a another tour leaving at 6am the following day. We all will be staying in bed. Finally!
Ais

TP3 17/09

So we arrived in Delhi and straight to our hotel for breakfast, our Hotel-The Shanty Palace is more the former than the latter but it's home for the next two days.

This is the last day of out official tour and we have our obligatory orientation of the city including the parliament, ministerial offices, India gate and the shopping area of Connaught Place.

The best thing about Delhi is the Metro system, thank you Mr Metro for your wonderful invention, whisking folk under and over ground to their destinations, in Delhi this a respite from the TP3,* it gets us where we want to go fast and safe and makes it easy to negotiate the city.
The best thing about our group is South Afican Marks' dreads, the Indians are fascinated by his locks and he is mobbed wherever he goes by people wanting to touch his hair or just take his picture, as he does resemble a young Bob Marley.It has been a constant source of amusement for them, and us.

Our final dinner was a fairly somber affair, I think everyone was suffering slighty from P.T.D.D ( post tour de-stress disorder)The meal was great, the girls ordered Indian wine (?) which was immediately sent back due to it's close relationshipto fizzy vinegar.

At the end of the meal the  'Indian pepper gauntlet' was laid down by Ais who found the food not spicy enough, suffice to say I don't think she will be throwing down any more pepper gauntlets any time soon, neither will the two fools that took up the 'down it in one' challenge. I imagine the heat, pain, sweat, tears and running nose that was experienced would be repeated in about 6-8 hours, only this time on the flip side.....ouch.

We said our respective goodbyes to group and tour leader. The company of Mark, Lotti, Aimee, Bridget, Ingrid x2, Veronica and Abhi will be missed and friendships were made.
We're on our own now..... :s

*Traffic, Pollution, Potholes, Pee.

PHOTOS POSTED TO FB 18/09

Trip photos just up on Ais' FB account, comments and headings to follow. Thank you!

Potholes and pee 16/09

He Said...

Jaipur, the pink city, so coloured to commemorate a Royal visit from Prince Albert. We are in Rajistan, which translates as Land of Kings. Maharaja's exist only in title since India became independent but many of them still have their palaces and their wealth, we are guests of one such family at the Bissau Palace- a fabulous throwback to the glory days of the Raj.

Our tours today include the Amber Fort and the Royal Palace, I would tell you lots about the Fort but we never made it out of bed, the palace however is a statement of the wealth and austentaciouness of the Royal family of Jaipur, they still live there today, but as with most Royal palaces they open a considerable section to the public to help pay the taxes.

The Great Great Grandfather of the current monarch was a sizeable man at 500lbs and 7 feet tall, he was a house, his dress robes, as displayed, would make shelter for an entire scout troop, with vestibule!
Upon his visit to England for the coronation of Edward VII he commissioned 16 silver urns in which to carry holy Ganges water to bathe in...but being the king his urns were made of solid silver and carried 900 gallons each, at todays prices they are each worth $475,000 each, they are also in the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest single pieces of silver in the world.
And we though MJ was extravagant with his Evian baths....

After a huge and tasty local lunch at LMB (since 1736) we decided to walk back to the hotel and through the local bazaar, there wasn't anything you couldn't buy from bra's to bananas and sari's to steel pipe, each street seemed to have it's speciality.

Tonights treat was the opening day of a new Bollywood film, the 'Bodyguard'. Now to summarise this film my review would read as follows:

Take a Bruce Lee film, base on a Benny Hill plot line, add a serving of kitch Broadway, sprinkle in the 80's, bake for two hours in a packed theatre, ensure plenty of whooping, whistling, applause at obscure moments then present in India, and garnish in Hindi.
If that doesn't grab you I can summarise the film in one sentence, the lead actor had biceps that flexed when he whistled. It certainly wasn't Whitney and Kevin but it was much more entertaining.
Spoiler Alert
.....he gets the girl...well technically it was her best friend, but he didn't know that, as he thought she was the love of his life, but then she died, but they had a son, before she died, so then he married the best friend, the one that wasnt dead, who was originally his client and who actually loved him but was actually his secret admirer, but he didn't know that, until he read his dead wife's diary, which his son threw away, but his Dad found...on a train.

Our ride back to the hotel was, as all rides are in Jaipur- bumpy and stinky and unfortunately my last experience of this walled city was as the title suggests.

Up at 4.30 tomorrow morning, there is nothing I get up for at 4.30, no, not even that...so this better be good Delhi.

Friday 16th September

Ahhhhhh, we slept in til 9.30 such bliss. Everyone else headed to the fort, we are to meet them around noon at the City Palace. We had to make the call to get some extra sleep as we have 4am start tomorrow to take us to Delhi. 

The tour has been hectic in that we have done so much as well as covered so much ground in between, so the constant moving and covering a significant distance has been quite tiring.
The clincher for this decision was the Hotel Bissau Palace, a stunning hotel that we wanted to thoroughly enjoy and relax in. After our lie in, we had a leisurely breakfast and sauntered around the hotel, we ventured onto the rooftop where we admired the fort from afar.
We headed out on a tuk tuk to set the others. We waited at the gate to city palace where school was let out. Lovely to hear the laughter of children. It was quite a contrast to see these lovely children all dressed in their uniforms and to see this one lady with her 2 children begging the street outside the palace. Such a pity.
The palace was stunning. Very well maintained as the family still ,Iives there and have retained their wealth. A lot of the other palaces have been taken by the government if the kings are unable to pay their taxes.

I was most enamored by the textile display. Firstly by the intricate embroidery on the various king's and queen's garments and then by the gross enormity of the kings outfits. He was said to be 7th tall and 500lbs. The clothing was massive.
We spent some time in the artists section where they had beautiful pieces of work, some quite expensive in comparison to the rest of India, and even Jaipur. I found a beautiful piece, but chose to do without it. I already got my long  waited for  sari and couldn't justify such purchase.

We all dispersed and did our own thing. I wanted a pair of locally made shoes in Jaipur. We walked and walked and walked throuh the various bazaars, but I didn't find exactly what I desired nor anything close to it.
(aarrgghhhhh, this iPad is driving me crazy. Spell check and the key pad. I type using the home keys and this two finger typing on the touchscreen just sucks!)
After getting lost we took a rickshaw  back to the hotel, which was just around the corner past the smelliest part of Jaipur, the meat Market. The most vile smell ever. We did a quick turnaround and headed to the cinema to see Bodyguard, a Bollywood production. The cinema itself is stunning. A wonderful foyer. Here they have only one screen. So as the doors opened, everyone piled in bought their drinks and food and chatted away. Once the doors to the seats opened everyone ploughed into the venue. We got our seats, the lights went down and the opening credits rolled up the screen and the music sounded. Whoops and hollers came from the crowd. This is how movie watching is done in the cinemas of India. They even take cell phone calls and have long conversations to boot! I thoroughly enjoyed the film and the atmosphere. It was quite electrifying however bizarre and zany the plot was. It really was laughable. I tried my best to figure out the plot even though it was all in Hindi. I figured out the twist at the end, not bad.
Our Norwegian friends were very very lost regarding the whole film, even up to two days later!
We made it back to the hotel, had a very light bite and hit the hay. Another early start tomorrow. 4.30am to get the 6am train to Delhi.
Ais

Thursday 15th September

5am, up and shower and off to the Taj Mahal...  How does one describe such a beautiful monument. Words, photos, paintings just don't do it justice. We got there as they opened the gates and let us in. Women on the left and men on the right. For once the ladies beat the men in the line. I went over to Ric while he was still in the line and gave a quick tickle. 3 Americans were behind and one commented..."ah she's cute, give her some money." very funny, loved the quick wit so early in the morning. Perhaps this is a location/cultural joke, as there is alWays someone coming up with a hand out stretched for some money here in India.

We got our background history on the Taj Mahal before we were let loose to take all the usual photos,then we got very artistic with our untrained eyes but huge enthusiasm and appreciation. After a while, I just had to turn off the camera, put it into the bag and just walk around and take in the atmosphere. Despite the people around it was tranquil. What was so wonderful was the temperature. It was perfectly  cool, allowing us to just sit in various spots around the mosoleum and admire it's grandeur. It also turned out that we became an attraction ourselves, with people snapping pics of us.

We meandered back to the hotel, ate breakfast, napped and headed to the Red Fort that afternoon. The heat on entering was unbelievable, but a thundercloud moved in, thankfully dropping the temperature. We of course saw a blend of architecture depending on the various rulers at the time. We were shown where Shah Jihan was kept captive by his son Aurangazeb. In comparison to prisons, it was more like being under palace arrest really. He had a constant view of the Taj Mahal from all of his windows and from his terrace. He must have seen the most glorious sunrises from this vantage point with the Taj as the fore front.

I felt we spent too little time here in Agra, that being said we did get a full day of site seeing and never felt rushed.

Off to Jaipur on the 6pm train. We should arrive by 10.20. As it turned out the train was late, so we didn't arrive until 11pm. As soon as we got to the hotel we got settled to our rooms, returned to the foyer and drank some rum til the wee hours. We did this in lieu of the morning fort visit. I think we are forted out...
Ais

Love 15/09

"Love is wonderful thing, makes you smile in the pouring rain"...Michael Bolton doesn't have a clue, not the faintest, neither does Brian Adams with his "when you love someone, you'll do anything, you'll do all the crazy things, you cant explain, shoot the moon, put out the sun..."
They are all minnows in the pond of love, but Mr Shah Jahah... he is a whale. A Mougul King who upon the death of his third wife, during the still birth of their 14th child was so rocked with remorse about losing the love of his life that he spent the next 22 years building a monument to their love, a shrine where she could rest in peace and an enormous statement in white marble to the power of love ( queue Huey Lewis and the News)

The Taj Mahal (named after his wife) is less of a structure and more of a testimony of a mans devotion to his spouse and the fulfilment of a promise, it is over 350 years old and looks as good today as it ever did, the precise symmetrical architecture, the detailed inlaying of precious stones and gems and the care and attention taken to encompass, Persian, Mougul and Hindu design influences, it is a stunning building and one you just want to be around.

The rest of Shah Jahah's life pretty much sucked, all his children were murdered by his errant 4th son and he was imprisoned by the same son for 8 years, upon his death his dying wish was also granted-that he be buried next to his wife at the Taj, a closing statement in an amazing love story.

Agra Fort and Palace is equally impressive but pales in significance next to the story that built the Taj Mahal.
An evening train journey will take us to Jaipur, the Pink City, so colored for Prince Albert... Pink city...Prince Albert...? Let's not go there!
Pizza and Chai on the train this time- I'm getting more Indian by the minute, especially with my 'warrier caste' moustache (so I'm told)
Biryani Out!

Close shave 14/09

He Said....

I did get up at 8am and run this morning, through the town, across the river and down into the park, then I realised, to myself "it's 40 degrees what the hell am I doing?" so I walked back and hit the pool. I always wonder why I never see anyone else running.

Big buffet breakfast and check out.

Ais took a local cookery class in the town and the boys set off on an unsceduled trip to a local barbers shop for a wet cut- throat shave and head massage. I couldn't decide what to do so told the barber to do what he thought was traditional and looked good...I never thought he had Yosemite Sam in mind... So thats what I have, and as moustaches are big in India I think I can get away with this.
But damn it was a great shave, face massage, head and back massage all for $2.
(80 Rp) I had a back massage in the hotel spa when we arrived which cost $25 and wasn't a patch on the barber shop treatment, that felt like I was being basted for a Sunday Roast.
So Ais finally learnt how to cook proper and I had a nice doggie bag lunch when I got back.
Things looked up as we had proper cars with A/C to the train station, we stopped off at a paper factory, part of a sustainable eco industry where they take old clothes and turn them into paper products.
Our train tonite No.12001 is to Agra and it is surprisingly clean, spacious with A/C.
On these kind of trains you really get to see the disparity between the haves (A/C class) and the have nots (General class). The haves are dressed Western style with jeans and brand name trainers and tops, they have cell phones and computers and eat the complimentary meals and drinks, the have nots sit cramped on hard bench seats dressed in traditional attire carrying provisions, nowhere else have I seen such a societal segregation obviously based on wealth, which is hugely influenced by the omnipresent caste system.
We arrive into Agra on time, late evening and have out first proper double bed and a TV with BBC World, and Top Gear.
Tomorrow the Taj Mahal and the Red Fort
Jai Ho!

Wednesday 14th September

My night didn't go so well as I did my usual washroom inspection around 2 AM, I  could hardly walk, my back was killing me. Time to pop some strong ibuprofen to counteract my crappy massage. Safely back in bed, I slept well until Ric had his morning wake up call to go running with one of the members from the group. Happy I didn't commit to that one. I got up spread out the yoga mat that Ric insists I have to Use more often as he has carried it all this way strapped to his rucksack. That is merely because we have traded rucksacks and my one had the external straps for it. I did an hour of yoga and pilates in the nip to counteract my sore back. (bet Ric is sorry he went running ;) ) Thanks to Yona and Leslie back home in Grenada, I did all the right moves to sort me out.  

So we are on the move again this evening to Agra. This is the whole reason I wanted to visit India someday. I have no idea what my fascination is with the taj mahal or Indian culture. I just have always wanted to visit.

Before this we have a cooking course booked with a local lady in the village. She is the wife of indu the Hindu. 4 of us chicas are taken by autorickshaw to the house. She invited us in and had us seated on matresses on the ground. She handed us lined paper and pens. We joked hat we felt we were ba k in school and should underline the date.  We learned how to make 8 dishes. She demonstrated each dish, step by step as we wrote down the recipe. All the dishes were vegetarian and had the most amazing aroma, each seemed better than the last. We made aloo Saag, cauliflower and potato curry, aubergine curry, raitha, guava chutney , chapattis and chai, of course. So yummy, though the sightings of two little mice geeked me out bit I stayed calm and remained gracious to our hostess.

With our tummies full and our recipes written down with the dates underlined, we headed back for a quick swim and chill at the pool. We packed up and headed to the train station. We did a quick stop at a Tara gram factory. It is where they recycle cotton and make it into paper. The process is quite labour intensive,back breaking work. I can't really complain about my crap massage when you see what work they have to do daily. The end result is fairly coarse thick paper, the kind you see in the papyrus stores. I 
purchased a fabulous paper lampshade with an ohm inlay, much to Ric's chagrin because of the size. I love it and it is in his bag, shhhhh.

Off to hop on a train to Agra, woohoo!
So far, sari, check, ohm, check, yoga, check, religious ceremony, check, blessing, check, near death Rickshaws ride, check, thumbs up, check, squatting toilets, check and check, ficus religiosa leaf, check, ATM withdrawal, check, elephant ride, check, amazing scenery photos, check, cooking class, check, all types of curry, check

Left on the list
Taj mahal, Bollywood movie, anklets that make loads of noise, henna, Ganesh, fridge magnet, embroidered shoes...Delhi belly?

Ha,
Ais

Raj for a day 13/09

He Said...

Thirteen hours on a train did seem a little daunting especially when boarding we saw it was 6 persons to a non private bunk/cabin and the other 4 didn't speak a word of English. 
As we sat eating our Dominoes  pizzas, drinking Coca Cola wondering how we could better ingratiate ourselves with the locals...it suddenly dawned on me - use the international language of universal communication....
Crazy Birds!!
And that was it- we we bonded, sharing local and Western foods ( I had Bourbon biscuits) while exploding buildings,  dropping bombs and sharing trajectory techniques through mime and finger pointing.

The sun was setting just as we set off, at around 9pm housekeeping distributed freshly pressed linens, pillows and blankets and by 10pm we changed our seats to sleepers and bedded down for a reasonable nights sleep - if that is, you're under 5'8" otherwise your feet stick out the end and are guillotined every time someone passes with a suitcase, but hey ho...mustn't grumble the beds are soft-ish.

We awoke at 6 ish  and eventually arrived into Jhansi by 10pm, two hours later than scheduled. We picked up 6 seater 'Executive Tut-Tuts' from the station for the  20 minute ride to Orchha.
Keeping the Executive theme our accommodations are tented but with electricity, hot and cold water a, showers,TV's and all the mod cons you get in India.
Orchha is stunning, it is straight out of an Indiana Jones meets Tomb Raider film set, with 6 enormous palaces and 22 temples within a 3 mile radius.The palaces, although no longer inhabited are opulent to the extreme , one was even built to house a visiting King for a day, and then never used again, it took 22 years to construct for a days use- kind of like the Millennium Dome. 
Words won't do this place justice so hopefully we can do a photo dump soon. 

The River Betwa runs by our hotel, it is one of the cleanest in India and we managed a sunset dip as the sun ducked beneath the palace cuppolas. You can raft it in the summer when the water levels are less.
I shall run tomorrow morning, then we have a chill day before a short early evening train ride to Agra and the Taj Mahal.
Until then Comrades.

Tuesday 13th September

My favourite day by far. We arrived to Jhasi train station 2 hours later than scheduled, but I had slept so well on the train, I didn't really care.  We hopped off the train and I was able to wheel my bag down the ramp to the auto rickshaw. Woohoo! It really is the simple pleasures that count. 

We arrived to the hotel where I promptly  booked us a massage. We got settled in our luxury tents. Slipped into my bikini so I could take a plunge after my deep tissue and head, neck and shoulder  massage. 

Ok, so the massage started with he therapist telling me not asking me to take off my sarong. Ok, language barrier perhaps. Then she pointed to my bikini top and to my bottoms. I nodded recognition. I was waiting for her to leave but she just stayed and stared at me. Hmmm, so I turned and took my top off, then my bottoms, expecting a towel or wrap...nope still standing there. Thank god I am not shy. Then she told me sit on the chair next to the massage table. This I did for my head massage,neck and shoulder massage. Hmm, one has to wonder, why was I sitting stark naked for this? So now that the hair tugging was over, now down to the real massage. Or not so much I could go on and on...basically I got some oil on my back and some circular rubbing mainly concentrating on my coccyx and my cervical vertebra and a little in-between the two spinal spots. WT...

So what made this day so great...the palaces that we visited in Orccha. This was after lunch and a dip in the lotus shaped pool. We had a great guide, a Hindu named Indu.  Ric found this particularly funny. This small town is exactly as I had envisioned India  from history I have read and photos I have seen. I think I could have sat with Ric all day and just watched the day pass from the roof of the 3rd palace which was built over 22 years and used for only one night. Oh what eccentricity. Our day continued with a visit to a dead hindu temple (one that is no longer in use). Seeing such wonderful specimens of craftsmanship, design, architecture,  forethought, beauty, has me filled with such appreciation and admiration for the Moguls. We then returned to one of the palaces which is nowadays a hotel called the Sheesh Mahal to enjoy dinner. 
As we left the moon was up over the turrets of the 3rd palace. A truly memorable site to end the evening as we sauntered back to the hotel avoiding the cows and their holy patties.
Ais

Lie In 12/09

He Said....

It seems that the Nepalise took the word for mattress from the Indians, I don't know how anyone sleeps comfortably on these, especially when your 6'4" and your ankles dangle off the end of the bed. The A/C has two speeds, Antarctic and off, needless to say what began as a cool breeze later involved chipping icicles of my toes at midnight, nevertheless we somehow managed somewhat of a lie in, till 10am.

After brekkers we set off in Tut tuts ( see earlier) I swear it's like playing chicken with traffic,  while blindfolded, I made sure all my appendages were within the vee-hik-al !

We went to the Buddhist museum, the archealogical site, the site of Lord Buddhas first sermon and the exact spot where he defeated Lord Vadar and took over the Empire... dun dun dun, dun dun dun, dun dun dun!

We were packed and out of Fawlty towers at 4.30pm and back onto Tut-Tuts to the train station and the start of another epic Indian experience- the over night train, to Orccha, a rural Indian town, and a complete opposite to the malais of Varinasa...but more on that tomorrow
I think I'm getting too old for this shit.( I know Ais is)
Out!

Monday 12th September

We haven't been able to load the blog for a while now and so I have fallen behind with writing my pieces. I have had to catch up on 4 days travel. it feels like homework at times. I said to Ric it is amazing how you can fall off the earth with no Internet access and eventually enjoy it after the first few hours of panic ( that's him, not me) as much as it has been fun reading each others blogs it has taken away from our end of the night chill out with just us, away from the group time. We now do the blog in the notes section of our iPad and save them until we have Internet access which has been very sketchy recently.
Now that Ric has released the iPad to me I am now catching up on Monday's blog on Wednesday the 14th. 

So today, we woke up late, packed and met everyone in the lobby at noonish to head to Sarnath, the place where Buddha performed his first sermon and visit the  Buddhist museum. I feel like I have a few more pieces of the puzzle of Buddhism, but there is so much more to add. I finally got my leaf from the Ficus Religiosa, the tree that Buddha became enlightened under after eating a bowl of rice pudding...there is much more to this story, of course. As we continue on our travels, I may buy a small book on Buddhism to help tie it altogether or merely google it, post China. 

That being said, I  am much more educated in Buddhism and Hinduism by taking this journey through Nepal and India and being fortunate to share in various rituals firsthand.

We raced back to the hotel on out Tuk tuks and prepared for our overnight train to Orccha. 
We arrived to the station in Varanasi after a very hot auto-rickshaw ride. We then humped our luggage up 2 flights of stairs and down again. We waited in the oppressive heat with the sweat pouring off of us. Needless to say I was not feeling quite alluring at this point. We boarded the sleeper train. We are 6 to a cabin with no doors... Ric and I are separated from the group and have an elderly Indian couple and a father and son of about early twenties as our train companions.  
Ric and I have been assigned the bottom bunks, which suits is just fine as the luggage is under these bunks. We have heard how much theft ocurrs on the Indian trains already.  Then the lady is in  my seat and then moves over to Ric's seat. So we have to sort out a few things. We are less than our usual gracious selves as there is a genuine language barrier and we have lost our manners due to overheating. We just called Abhi to help us out. Turns out the lady has knee problems and needs to sleep below. 
Ahhh, no problem as far as we are concerned, as long as we can sit in our seats before bed time. We all settled down and got comfy. The couple were very grateful, thanking us profusely. Then we offered some biscuits and then the young son offered us some stuffed meat snack, which Ric called scotch egg without the egg. I don't like scotch egg so was happy the I declined. 

Then we did a switcharoo with our group that allowed the couple to move next door and have  both bottom bunks. The other 6 in our group were next door playing cards and drinking rum. Ric and I took turns joining them while the others watched our stuff. Good fun. Then we settled into playing Angry Birds and inviting our bunk buddies to play also. It was hilarious, we all had a blast trying to help each other move onto the next level by hand motions and a mixture of angry bird sounds and English/Indian oohs, ahhhhhhs, whoops, and eventually, yeeessss or nooooooo!

Then we prepared for bed. We got fresh sheets and a thick wool blanket for the exceptional air-conditioning that was blowing into the cabin.
I got my earplugs in, snapped on my eye mask and bedded down for the most restful sleep I have had since the start of or tour. 

Happy, happy, happy Ais.

Sunday 11th September

Early in the morning

Up before the crack of Dawn. 4am work up call. Ric stayed in bed as the bus ride just did him in! So I took one for the team and headed out for a boat ride on the Ganges. No one else was up in India. Well that was until we made it to the ghats of the Ganges. These are steps that take you down to the river. You can only see half the paintings on the Walls as the river was so high as it is still monsoon season. We hopped on the boat which motored us along the river so we could see the various morning rituals for Hindus in holy Varanasi at the river.

In the meantime the sun Rose majestically as a bright red and orange ball of fire. As the river was so high we performed our flower candle ceremony. We made a wish as we lit a candle in a small vessel filed with Rose petals and marigold flowers and set it upon the river from the boat. It swirled away quickly, taken by the strong currents. Just beautiful.

I made it back, ate breakfast and promptly went back to bed until just before 12. In my infinite wisdom, I booked a yoga session for 12.30. Our yogi was Bablu. I thought he said Babu at first, thought it was funny. This man was so flexible. He gave is great yoga moves for curing all types of ailments but I just needed a good stretch as did we all after our bus journey the day before. It was supposed to be 1 hour, it ended  being 2 hours. 

Once out, we had to rush to head out to the silk factory. I was finally going to get my long     
wished for sari. Upon entering the factory we were shown how the yards of silk with intricate designs are made. Some of the pieces are so detailed that they can only complete an inch per day.  Amazing. They brought us into the back room to show us their collection. About 6 men started pulling out bed spreads, and table runners, and scarves. I finally told them I was interested in saris. And boy did they have gorgeous silk saris...I bought one. They showed me how to tie it in various ways. They took my measurements after we bargained for a good price. As he said, "you are happy, I am happy". So, deal. It would be delivered to my hotel tomorrow, with an underskirt and top. I am happy!

Quick stop at the hotel and into cycle Rickshaws. We had the smallest biker. Ric was dying to hop on to help in out but we probably would have died In less than 5 minutes the way they drive here.
We headed to the daily ritual at the Ganges for 7. We got a seat front and side which was great except we right next to the speakers. The smell of marigold and fresh Rose petals was amazing. As the ceremony started a fly flew down my top even though I had a sarong around my shoulders and promptly stung me leaving me with my hand down my top in front of the priests trying to get the stinger out. Not very Hindu of me...
The  ceremony was mesmerising, I thoroughly enjoyed it, that after the first few minutes, I stopped taking photos so I could fully enjoy the experience. 
ok so my camera died. Tomorrow is a free day then overnight train ride.

Instant Coffee 11/09

He Said...

My Buddhist calendar tells me its January 5th 2554, thats makes it my 582nd birthday next month, so start saving, oh and Marty McBride says Hi ( film humor)

Varanasi won't be winning any beautiful city awards any time soon, cos it's not.
The hotel we are staying it needs euthanising, it's way way past it's prime, seen its better days and is now on it's way to a huge coronary.
It certainly had those glory days and you see glimpses of that in the gilt framed pictures in the corridors, the faded torn silk wall paper and the shabby grandeur of the place.
But when you order breakfast and it all comes with the proper tea service, cruet sets and starches White-ish napkins, all dating back to aforementioned bygone era and all in need of a deep deep clean, and then you are presented with a bowl of instant coffee granules in a glass ramekin- you just know that the glimmer it once had has all but gone.

So I didn't make the wake up call but Ais went and the sunrise looked beautiful. I had a leisurely morning until Captain Elastic Fantastic turned up for a Master Yoga session! They  called it Raj Yoga but for the purpose of this blog lets call Arrrrrgh Yoga. It was a learning experience as our Yogi took us through the different exercises for each part of the body, I need to work on my crab but think I earned my black belt.

After Yoga we visited a Silk factory which was incredible to watch them make amazingly intricate fabrics that can take upto 6 months to complete one piece at 1cm per day, I think everybody bought, including Ais with a gorgeous pink and aquamarine Sari which was measured and will be cut, tailored and delivered for our wedding tomorrow*

Our evening activity was to attend a daily ritual blessing to Mother (the river) Ganges and Lord Shiva, it is a difficult thing to describe other than to say it involved singing, bell ringing, josstick twirling, fire throwing, petal throwing, clapping, incense burning, candle lighting, blessing and praying, it was interesting to be a part of and fascinating that they do it every day 7/365.

I think we take a train tomorrow. All Aboard!



*Just checking who's reading. ;)

No Wing mirrors... 10/09

He Said....

The Nepalese word for mattress must be "wood" as that was pretty much what we slept on last night, needless to say I'm not in the best of humour, my breakfast- the British classic 'Beans on Toast' (also a local delicacy it seems) arrive after 45 minutes...as a sandwich... 

We were 15 minutes late leaving for the border, which didn't matter as when we crossed into India we went back a whole 15 minutes, go figure.
The border crossing was just as it is depicted in the movies- pure mayhem, an utter fluster cluck, we walked across with our bags as we said goodbye to Nepal and hello to India, and a new bus with fans and working A/C....so things are looking up, right???

Country number 2-India has 1.2 billion inhabitants, 1 billion cars and trucks, 800 million scooters and bicycles, 125 million Tut Tuts (auto-Rickshaws to you and me) and just 17 roads.

Tut Tuts....imagine a Robin Reliant with no doors, for Grenadians imagine the bagel van. Now sardine 12 of your closest friends and family inside with one or two strangers for good measure and drive really slowly along the M25(GND-Maurice Bishop) at rush hour, and that's how they do!

When you have graduated from driving a Nepalese Tata truck you receive a diploma in Crazy Asshole and are sent to drive tourist buses in India, as that is exactly how they all drive. 
Their buses are on their own personal set of rails and everybody and anybody else is in the way, in fact the only things they slow down for is...

Pot holes....Nope!
Speed bumps (they come in 5's)....Nah!
Women......No Sir!
Nuns....Not a chance!
Monks......Thats a negative!

They slow down and even stop................
for goats and cows...
and that's it, everyone else they drive towards, at speed, and at the very last minute swerve to avoid disaster, hence the title. I have never blasphemed so much in a day,  it was like an endless universal studios ride, and I'm pretty sure I heard a few "Lord Buddhas!!" as our tourist juggernaut ploughed it's unstoppable path through rural North East India.
I know every single pothole and speed bump from Nepal to Varanasi, the reason why good folk shouldn't take 13 hour bus journeys is because we invented planes, 13 hours....360 kilometres. I don't think it's ever taken me thirteen hours to get anywhere, ever!

What are my first impressions of "Incredible India"?? Best not to ask today, ay.

As for Nepal...
The highlight-Mount Everest and the laid-back scene and breath taking scenery of Pokhara.
The low point- The trash and it's lack of management, as it is such a beautiful country. Wish I had...packed a dust mask for Kathmandu, it's smogerrific.
Wish I hadn't ...packed so many warm clothes, cos' it ain't that cold.

Film for today's journey was Phenomenon, song of the day was Bed of Roses by Bon Jovi, as sung in a shrill Indian voice by our Gap Adventures  (thats a plug) group leader- Abbisheik

Tomorrow is a 4.30 wake up to catch sunrise over the River Ganges....Am I going? I'll let you figure that one out. G'night.

Saturday 10th September

Time to cross the border from Nepal to India and then do a 10 hour bus journey. But hey, we will have AC. Bonus! 
We got up, ate and headed to the border, where Rickshaws carried our bags while we walked to immigration to exit Nepal. Easy enough only because we had a guide with us. Then we crossed over to India, the heat was pretty oppressive already and super dirty. It was a complete cluster of people, bikes, motorbikes, Rickshaws, tourist buses, local buses, motor cars (old and new) and us. All either coming or going on any side of the road that had a possible space to squeeze through.

Once settled in the bus we proceeded to join the insanity and inch, and I mean inch forward. We were entertained by a random head kicking by some random youngster in the cab of a goods delivery truck. Conveniently so, an army truck of soldiers was stuck in the traffic just next to them. Not sure if they broke it up or not. If you don't get the chai right, the driver gets pissed and a bout of Road rage ensues, I guess.

Other than that, the ride was 12 very long hours on a very bumpy, bumpy, bus. No hope of sleeping on this journey. It was, like  being on one of those old wooden roller coasters, which I usually enjoy- for a minute or so. 

During the journey, I got some cool photos and made some interesting pee stops. One in a rice paddy field where I had to look out for snakes.
We made it to Varanasi where we were given our necklace of marigolds on arrival. Welcome to India. We ordered food and sat waiting. At the other table, the other group doing the route the other way were getting drunkedy drink, drunk. Bad idea, as they were taking the bus back at 5am the following morning, to the border. We thought it best not to tell them. 
The food fantastic-things were looking up, until we made it up the room. Needless to say we changed rooms...no better. I ended up sleeping on my sarong over the bedsheets. I could go on....

Nepal 0 Ric 1 9/09

Our last day in Nepal as we make a break for the border, the bus ride wasn't as arduous as anticipated and we arrived into Lumbini by noon.

The most Holy and spiritual place for a Buddhist is the birth place of Lord Buddha, which is conveniently just down the road, he was born some 2556 years ago near a lake, near a tree and they actual have the 2556 year old stone on which he was born- and disappointingly that's about it. It would be nice if they even had a path to get to the place!

Other than that the hotel has A/C, porcelain, a pool and a colony of Mosquitos.

My beard is fully formed and I'm looking for suggestions so please forward your comments, I'm thinking handlebars but happy to hear from you.

On a closing note, Nepal is a beautiful diverse country from the roof of the world to the border jungles, it is a very poor country with the average wage of 82% of the population less than US$2 a day, it is over run with trash with no solutions for is disposal- plastic bottles litter every corner and don't bio-degrade. What Ais and I have budgeted for a week could feed a family of four for nearly 5 months.....makes you think!

Song for today's bu ride was Biffy Clyro- Many of Horror - no significance just a cool song.
Oh I leave Nepal without intestinal anything, hence the title....bring it on India !

Manana

Cutting it short

Seeing that we have been getting a little carried away with our blog writing, and getting quite frustrated after spending so much time writing about our daily excursions to then not be able to post them, we have discussed writing shorter blogs.
So here goes:

We rode in a bus for 4 hours, ate lunch at our new hotel at the Nepalese/Indian border. Off to lumbini, the birth place of lord Buddha. The exact place of his birth, no less. I was hoping for some form of spiritual enlightenment...still waiting. It was soooooo hot, and we had to be covered, sweltering. That being said we have a pool here, so when we all got back and changed rapidly into our suits and hopped into the pool at sunset. Bliss! We played some pool volleyball which started getting a litle out of hand when some of the chicks started throwing a little too hard. Nonetheless we still had a chilled out fun time. I now feel balanced.

Bring on the 10 hour bus ride...I hope to buddha that we have air conditioning!

Ais

Nepalese Burglars 8/09

"Power cuts R us" is the motto of Nepalec, which is the name I just made up for the national Electrical company, they are off more than they are on, which makes for interesting night time showering, toileting, pretty much anything.

Our accommodations are modest, you can't put paper in the toilet, which is a new one for me and we have the largest key and padlock for the door but all the windows are mesh, so I can only deduce that Nepalese burglars are either thick or mesh just confounds them  - same for the tigers, they see the locked door, peer through the windows thinking "lunch", then notice the mesh and are like "Damn, I could eat those people, if it wasn't for that pesky  mesh!!"

So we Safaried first thing, on top of Indian elephants, off into the jungle we went. Whilst we were all aware of the dangers of Rhinos, Tigers and King Cobras our guide put the fear of God into us about leeches- long sleeves, long pants and long socks we were instructed. I wasn't prepared for this wardrobe request and both my pants and shirt were chocolate brown so I looked like a large turd, but no leeches on me.

We opted out of the optional afternoon activities and chillaxed instead, after a brief snooze we bonded with our local elephant, feeding and watering her. They look at you, in the eye, you would almost think they understand to a degree, but they are noble and graceful creatures, it irks me to see them chained up and when you do look at them, in the eye, you can tell it irks them too.

I chose a traditional Nepalese dinner with a traditional Nepalese Fanta, it consisted of curried vegetables, rice, chicken curry, lentil soup and a tomato, spinach sort of soup- it is best eaten with the fingers, which I thoroughly enjoyed, except the soup took ages.
Dessert was a banana flambe which strangely enough is also a local treat.
Nepalec also own Nepalnet, I would imagine, so aplogies if this is a day (or two) late.
More bus tomorrow and some Buddha.
Mahala.

Just so you know....

Just so you know what day we are on, it is the blog for sept 8th. Bt the time we get the Internet connection, it will probably be the 9th but for most of our friends it will still be yesterday the 8th. Confused yet????

Breakfast at 7, elephant ride through the jungle at 8. I am in 2 minds about this whole ride. We get to the spot for the safari and all the elephants and their riders are lined up with wooden seats on top that hold 4 people uncomfortably. You have to swing your legs Round either side of the wooden two by fours. As much as the wood is smooth, on the soft skin between the skin and under of the fore arm, it is pretty brutal. So how must it feel for the elephant with 4 people precariously atop her, with her rider on her neck with his feet behind her ears, a stick too and a sharp metal prong to poke her on the top of her head. Ric and I are at the front so I can clearly see this. Within 2 minutes of the ride, I feel like crying. I am quite upset for this elephant. I decide to pull myself together for the duration. Both Ric and I had previously discussed our dislike of chained elephants and their form of training, etc. This part of the tour was included and so we went. In a way, I think we though we would be riding on the elephant bareback? perhaps this is our naivety (sp?) 

That being said,  5 minutes in we saw a horned rhino and her baby grazing. It was beautiful to watch how graceful the elephant is as it walked through the jungle. Absolutely majestic. We saw a few spotted deer, and 2 other type of deer, but I could not understand our Nepalese rider. We saw loads of peahens, no peacocks, a crocodile, a few birds, monkeys (Macau) and homo sapiens... But no tigers!

It was a peaceful  ride through the jungle. The rain started to fall towards the end of the ride, which actually added to the experience. We hopped off our big elephant and back to the lodge for lunch. Um but it was only 10 am. So I waited until a respectable hour to order lunch- 11.30! I was ravenous. I had spicy butter masala. so good, even though the food colouring made my mouth quite red. Then to top it off, I had 2 lemon crepes. Yummy. 

The rest of the group went on a canoe ride and jungle walk. We chilled, read and then had a siesta. I forced myself to wake up and go for a walk. I dragged Ric out of his slumber also. We happened upon the rider of one of the elephants at his house with one of the elephants, who was sadly chained by one fore leg and one hind leg. He did say that if she  ever got the feeling to go she would just head off. Usually when she gets to hot, and yes she has done it a few times but would usually mosey on back. He let us stay with her for a while and showed us how to feed her and give her water. They drink up to 100 litres per time. Their trunk can hold 10 litres. This we did till sunset. She seemed quite partial to Ric nearly wrapping her trunk around his leg.I half expected her to get a good grip and and turn him upside down. 

Happy we skipped the trek with the others as they saw the same animals as earlier but all ended up with leeches by the end of it all.

Tomorrow we are off to lumbinin, the birth place of Buddha...after a "5 hour" bus ride. Arrgh, it will be worth the trek, I think...
Ais

Show me your Tatas!! 7/09

They're everywhere, Tata trucks, Tata cars, Tata buses, Tata batteries, apparently Mr Tata also owns KingFisher beer, Raj hotels, Jaguar and Landrover so he'll be doing alright then.

If you are one of the few who don't own a Tata then you will be driving the following- take a flat V6 engine and bolt it to a pair of wheels, attach to that some chopper handlebars, brake lever on the left, accelerator on the right, figure out how to connect your trailer and sit somewhere, then hold up every man, woman and tour bus trying to pass you- Voila!!

Another epic bus ride today to Chitwan National Safari park, it's where they hide all the animals. The journey was actually pretty scenic with stunning waterfalls cascading from thousands of feet up, we followed the river ( which was now in full spate and some 300-500 feet across) downstream into the valleys, the roads don't get any better and last nights downpour added interesting obstacles like landslides and river washouts to manoevre around, or usually blast through at speed- delivering an interesting spinal sensation.

The Tata truck drivers get their licenses at age 6 ( by the look of them) and drive them with such reckless abandon coupled with amazing  pinpoint accuracy that they come at you like 20 tonne Exocet missiles and manage to pass at motorway speeds leaving inches between them and you. Unfortunately, they don't all make it and the roads are littered with Tata carcasses from those that misjudged, miscalculated, or just took their eyes of the road, maybe to unwrap a lollypop or read a comic book.

It pretty much rained the whole way but thankfully our 5 hour journey was just that, we had a brief orientation of our locale and checked in.

Our accommodation has been getting gradually more basic as we move south, we are now sans A/C but have a fan from an Apache Helicopter, the electricity is intermittent and we are not allowed to put paper in the toilet, we have a small plastic bin for that- here's hoping the Delhi Belly doesn't kick
 in now.

Tomorrow is elephant safari - one of the few animals I've never seen in the wild is a Tiger so I'm hoping for some stripy action. It's another early start- I can't believe I paid to get up at the crack of dawn- I can't believe I don't know anyone called Dawn to make a joke about that. 
Anyhoo, bed beckons..

P.S.
I wonder, as you do, that thos villagers living on the opposite side of the river, high high up in the mountain forests, when it comes to their weekly shop and the man of the house leaves to hike down the mountain, only  after several hours to reach  a swollen river with grade 3-4 rapids, to follow the river miles down to the nearest bridge or safe crossing point, to hike back up the other side to reach the main road, to take a bus or hitch a ride the 2-3 hour trip into town,  to get to the Market  purchase the groceries and then do the whole thing in reverse, to eventually reach home after maybe 1 or 2 days journey and the wife turns to him and says...
"No Honey I said 2% Yaks milk, not skimmed...!" 
What would he do?.........................................................What would you do???

My name is Pretty...

After waking up to a lovely view of the mountain range inclusive of 'fishtail' (the smallest of the Annapurna range peaks), we had a slow to come breakfast and then  a quick checkout and on to our tour bus. Thankfully it was a little less than the time anticipated and we had 2 bathroom stops. One in a maintained squat washroom and the other in the "jungle" Yay! 
Happy dance time! 

We arrived to  sapana safari lodge resort lodge cabana hut. Let's just say it is exceptionally basic. No aircon, so Ric is already half the weight he was. Lucky duck! 
Enroute, I had to stop by the pharmacy to grab allergy pills. Quite the feat to explain my symptoms to a gentleman who knows no English at all. My minimal experience in acting came into play. We shall see tomorrow if the pills work. If not then I have the the cold and hope it will pass in 2  to 3 days.

We have a view out of our window of 2 elephants, both tied up though. No bueno, yet we are taking a ride on them through the jungle tomorrow.
After a light bite, we took a walk through the village. A small country village of men and women who squat and watch their cattle all day. A wee bit bizarre but apparently it is essential to keep them from being eaten by crocodiles and to prevent them from eating banana leaves and rice crops. So what do you want to be when you grow up??

Plenty of the children would run up to me and walk after me saying hi. I eventually figured out they would follow me until I took a photo of them. Once I showed them, they squealed with delight, so I continued to do so throughout the rest of the walk. One little girl wanted to know my name. She was practising her English. I told her it was "aislinn". I asked hers, and she answered: "my name is pretty". So I took her picture to show

her how pretty she is...
At the end of the walk we got picked up by a jeep and I stood up in the back with the other girls why the boys chivalrously rode in the cab. 

As we have no Internet I am writing this with intermittent light as the power goes off and on. I ordered chicken curry, which turned out to be chicken bones in curry. Tasty but I really wanted some meat. Our guide Abe just told me that is how curry is served, "with bone". Fabulous.
After a staff member  trekked into town they have just placed a large glass of local raksi in front of me. So until tomorrow...
Ais 

Home on the range... 6/09

He Said...

The Himalayan range to be exact and the Annapurnas, to be precise.They didn't exactly cooperate at 5am, but then neither did Starbucks,unless you count a real Chai Latte.

But as the sun rose and reflected off of their icy slopes, they unveiled themselves from behind the morning clouds and we were spectators in an amphitheater of geological masterpiece.
Peak after 8000m peak from left to right presented themselves, leaving the by now impatient crowd in silence, well except for the incessant whirring and flashing of SLR's, digitals and those in-between hybrid cameras...but nevertheless pretty damn awesome.

Pokhara is a cool town, it has a laid back vibe, a Hippy influence mixed with back packers, climbers and random Japanese bus tours. It has a huge picturesque lake and from a postcard picture could be any number of Swiss ski villages, it has fast wireless internet, ATM's and wood fired pizzas but it also has Temples, Shrines, Ibises' and those mean looking black horned cows that just look pissed off all the time and stand in the middle of the main street looking at cars and saying"What...?" But it's cool, I like it.

Our tour today was cut short by the ass end of the monsoon season so we retreated to a bar, we did manage a visit to a very cool waterfall where the torrent just disappears underground but I won't let the inner geological geek in me go there. 

We also stopped off at a Tibetan refugee village where you could literally watch the wool go from the goat to the loom to the "I heart Tibet" shoulder bag, not as authentic as one had hoped but I guess they cater to the tourist and you gots to make a livin'.

The lake has a temple so we took a row boat out to it, on the way back we had more people in our boat than a Cuban flotilla and the humour crossed the divide of race and language.

We head into the valley tomorrow, Jones...a henge you say? (you will or you won't)

Hopefully, we go safari in the Nepalese jungle for Tigers, Rhinos, Ephliphants and the like. We stay in a camp lodge, first time without A/C let's hope they have T.P!
Word.

Less grumpy and tired!

So I skipped yesterdays blog as I was in foul humour after an 8 hour bus ride with no aircon in sweltering heat. And for someone who has kidneys that work like a charm, 2 bathroom stops did not quite hack it! That being said I had my first out house squatting exercise (working those thighs) on the way from kathmandu to pokhara. There is a knack to it ladies, thankfully, I cracked it!  Ha, no pun intended. Will enlighten you later on.

So today September 6th, a Tuesday I believe. It is amazing how quickly days are of no consequence when on tour. As everything is organised we just have to know what time to  show up in the lobby. Not exactly well rested, we are up at 4am to venture up the mountain to see the sunrise over the Annapurna range. Just before we board the bus the sky is fabulously clear and we start to name off constellations. Then we are on the move, slowly up the mountain, up and up and the town becomes a glimmer of winking lights behind us. We all hop out of the bus and have to do the last of the hill on foot with our hand held torches. As we are not yet awake, there is very little chat going on. Up we go to the viewing point and we can no longer see the stars, nor the lake below which is covered by a sheet of clouds, which starts to creep along towards the hills below us. No range to be seen, then bit by bit, like a child playing peekaboo, each of the 5 peaks appears and then disappears behind this veil of cloud. Then the sun starts to kiss the Dawn with rays of gold and orange and pink. This seems to chase the clouds away slowly revealing the beautiful snowcapped jagged mountains in all their glory. It was worth the early morning start and the long bus ride. 

A sight to behold, yes, yet I  am cranky, my belly is rumbling and I am tired. I need to eat and sleep some more. I  cannot function without food, I am an absolute disaster. I should have been born a marsupial  so I can store food in my pouch for such occasions.

I had yummy crepes and lemon tea. Off to bed for a few hours. Ahhh, I felt like a new woman. Showered and ready for the days activities. Off to Davies waterfall first, where we learned about Vishnu and his son Ganesh. Ric and I blessed each other with the third eye from this shrine. The red was such a deep Colour on our foreheads, it looked like we met with a terrible fall somewhere during the day. From here we headed to the Tibetan refugee camp. The elderly ladies were making spools of yarn outside, while the ladies Inside were  weaving carpets by hand. One lady kindly invited me to try my hand at the loom. Lets just say I would have been the first refugee sent back to Tibet. Then the rains started and it poured and poured and thundered and lighteninged. Which I love though it meant the rest of the day's activities of going to the peace pagoda and hiking down to the lake were no longer an option.
So we ate, and one by one the rest of the group joined us. Then the skies let up just enough to let us take a quick boat trip to the temple in the middle of the lake. We made a few wishes and sent them up to the gods by ringing the bells at the shrine. Then we had a precarious but funny trip back with a boatload of Indians (Bengalis I believe). 

"back at the ranch..."  I charged all the phones and cameras, Ric had passed out, so i met the others for a quick bite down the road for chicken momos (steamed dumplings). Tummy ache from eating too much food!!!!

 I think I have over done the food and the blog today!

 Until tomorrow and another supposedly 5 hour long bus ride.
Ais

If we get a strong enough connection, we will load pics with this blog.

And then I blew my nose... 5/09

He Said...

I wondered why so many Kathmandudes wear face masks, and then I blew my nose...

However upon taking my Everest flight at 6am this morning, once you fly above the smog and cloud the true beauty and majesty of the Himalayan range is immediately upon you. It's surreal to be flying in a small turbo prop at 25,000ft and have snow capped peaks above you. Everest stands out with it's iconic pyramid shape at just under 29,000ft ( it grew 3 metres since it's last measurement, for all you mountain geeks) It's sponsored by Pepsi now and the logo can clearly be seen in the snow.

The flight was only an hour long and as we landed back through the smog we each received a certificate proclaiming "You were all to lazy to actually make the trek to base camp, never mind up the mountain, so you took the easy option and booked a tourist flight". They said it differently, something about leaving a "piece of your heart", but we all new we had kopped out!

We left the hotel after breakfast, and here was me thinking my early morning flight was the highlight of the day, no one mentioned the 7 hour bus ride to Pokhara. The same road rules apply as before, except the potholes were bigger and the views more spectacular.

So now we are here, at the base of the Annapurna range and 6 of the highest mountains in the world in plain site. Had a early evening run around the lake followed by Pad Thai, a 650 ml San Miguel and Banana and chocolate pancake- see...I'm a local already!!

Still no irregular movements- all is well :)

4am "mountain sunrise" start tomorrow, or so the brochure said, better be damn worth it for 4am... and have a Starbucks at the top.
Peas and Loaf.

Nepalise paper panties 4/09

I have oiled sugar sand in places no man should...jet lag and the weather got the better of me today and so the biking never happened, but I accompanied Ais to the spa. If you can comfortably massage 95% of a mans body, they managed 96% today- a most comprehensive treatment shall we say ! But my full body scrub and Ayurvedic massage was one of the best - maybe not the correct thing to do in Nepal -hit the spa - but tell that to those Everest summiters who descend from 40 days climbing at +6000m I'm sure they concur that a Kathmandu massage, is just the thing.

We met our travel group today, an eclectic band of travellers from South Africa, Norway, Germany and UK- 7 chicks and two guys so should be interesting. After a brief induction  we toured downtown Kathmandu winding our way through incense filled streets full of vendors selling everything from Mickey Mouse Everest t-shirts to Momo's( a local delicacy)

The pace of life is frantic with tuttuts, cars, bikes, mopeds and pedestrians all vying for position on the tiny pot holes streets, he who has the biggest horn has right of way it seems.

Dinner this evening was at the auspicious "Rum Doodle restaurant and 40,000 1/2 foot bar", an establishment of legend, as is told by the signatures of those who have summitted and the 'Yeti Footprints' of those that made the 20 day base camp trek, and then those who conquered many an Everest....beer, get their wall time too (check above the toilets if your ever in the area).

I've been practising standing over the toilet and aiming for the water, as we head to the country tomorrrow, where seats don't exist, other than some ankle back splash my aim is good.

Oh and tomorrow if I drag my ass up at 5am I'm flying up and around Mt Everest- so I'm psyched!!

Nameste y'all.

Day 2 Nepal, Day 1 of GAP tour

We set the alarm to get up bright and early but for some reason even with the ac on last night it was quite hot, so it was not until 4 am that we actually stopped tossing and turning so we woke up a weee bit later... it may have had something to do with the time zone difference of 4.30 hours from England and then the 15 minutes difference from India to Nepal.

Finally up and fed, we had a tough day at Serenity day spa. I intended to do yoga but when I found out my treatment would be 2 hours for a deep tissue massage and reflexology, I had to pass as we had our tour group meeting at 2. So 2 hours of the most amazing massage. And I have had some massages. If we didnt have to leave tomorrow, I would go back all day tomorrow and do their yoga, meditation and more massages but alas one really should not over indulge...

We met our tour group. A great group of 10 including ourselves and our group leader, Abe. An exceptional young man. So the group is 3 men and 7 chicks. I believe Ric is enjoying this aspect, as am I. bathroom breaks and food stops aplenty!!!!!

We toured through Kathmandu in the rain. A very different experience today compared to yesterday. Quite enriched as we had our guide who filled us in on the information of the various streets and temples we had ventured through yesterday. We ended up at the vegetable market where there was the delightful pong of dried fish. That being said, the assortment of vegetables laid out and the array of colours was more than pleasing to the eye. I only ended up buying roast corn off of a vendor as the flies seemed to be the first to enjoy any other cooked food on offer. Apparently we will eat only Nepalese food over the next few days, so I will have more to add on the food front and the dynamics of our group tour as well as photos of which there are plenty.

Oh I finally wore my MC Hammer pants tonight at dinner at Rum Doodles. The ladies really liked it and hope to buy some over the next few days. I love them!

Ais

Kathmandu, Nepal

Finally got to write the blog today, 3 computers later. I couldnt get the blog to write in English. It would have been fun to attempt it in Nepalian but who would understand other than me.

We had a short flight from Delhi today and a reasonably painless visa process, however they have no idea what country Grenada is.

The small insane mini bus ride in was interesting. A lot of horn blowing like it is in the Caribbean, so no worries there.

Checked into the Fuji Hotel in the centre of town, down a little side street. We popped out in search of food. Though we got carried away just roaming the small streets which are lined with shops on either side selling pashminas, yak tshirts, wool shoes, tonnes and tonnes of trekking gear. I bought a pair of bright orange drop crotch pants. Like mc Hammer! It is what we wear here...I think.

Ric bought a cool shirt, then having left the shop and a few corners later, he realised he left his brand new oakley sunglasses behind. I dont expect this to be the last time this happens. haha. As it had rained previously I decided to wait on the side of the street while he went back.

I saw...directly across the street 2 floors up one lady pop out on to the balcony with 2 children, one in a pashmina sling over her back and the other in her arms. Another lady came out and took the baby from her arms and proceeded to place the little baby on her back and then drape a pashmina around her and tie it to the front securing her little baby to her back. The colours they wore were so vibrant and the smiles on their faces were wonderful. An experience I would not have had if Ric had not left his glasses behind nor could I capture it with ilm for fear of losing the moment.

Wonderful Nepal. I look forward to the next few days trekking around with our group as of tomorrow. evening.

btw it is quite hot here at the moment, 28 degrees

Ais

Just so you know, we dont read each others posts so that it is a genuine blog as he sees it and how I see it as per the title.

Nepal- our first real country 3/09

He Said....
A quick flight on Sauna Airways and we arrive in our first real country, in that we actually got our passports visa stamped, and all for just $25!

Kathmandu is seventyhundidrum meters (Google it) above sea level and smells of incense and pee. The Fuji hotel is 'comfortable' and the beer - 'Everest', (of course), comes in 650ml bottles, so who am I to complain!

Ais seems to have mastered the art of using a simple beach sarong as any item of clothing accoutrement and uses this skill to blend in like a local wherever we seem to be. At 6'4", white, with a comedy t-shirt and some natty stubble coming... on I am sporting the quintessential backpacker look, so after a quick trip to downtown Thamel I am now rocking some orange Nepalese MC Hammer pants (the crotch is at my ankles nearly ( I'm so ghetto)) and a stylish Hindu- 'esque' top. Photos....Ha, you wish!

The dilemma tomorrow is Everest summit flight or Annanpurna mountain biking, hmmmm?

I have always wanted to climb Everest, ever since I was a kid, and with the summit a sniff away its exciting but a tad frustrating to be here.

Tri folk- they have an annual Everest Base Camp Triathlon in November, highest in the World at 6000m!  
For those following, bowels are still good, but plenty of time for all that to change!
Later....

Not quite Delhi... 2/09

He Said...

Just like Tom Hanks in that film we, are in airport limbo, in India but not really, with our bags at the mercy of the Delhi airport. I survived the flight and can recommend the movie 'The Guard' even on the postage stamp TV screen(I thought big was the new small?)I am also two Indian dishes down without need for any emergency evacuation although Ais insisted I keep my mouth closed in the shower in case I ingested the water!
Our hotel is of the transit variety in the middle of all the duty free shopping, it's called Eaton Smart...I have no idea why.
Tomorrow we take a flight over the Himalayas and into Nepal...maybe our baggage will join us!?
P.S. I-pad...mmmmmmm not so much, yet, will update as learning curve increases.

The local bottled water is AquaFina, they say it's filtered at source- I think with a colander. My body successfully filtered it in about 15 minutes.

I'm still trying to work out the Hindu significance of a pint of Guiness balancing on a boiled egg...but thats art...who am I to critique?

Delhi airport

>So how does one visit India twice on a single entry tourist visa? You overnight at the Airport! Easy, not exactly. Thankfully the virgin staff weren't that busy today so they were able to get our luggage checked through to Kathmandu and get jet airlines to give us our boarding pass for the next day...so we will have been at the airport for 25 hours, with no luggage. Note to self,when you suggest to your boyfriend to pack an extra change of clothes in the carry on take your own advice and do the same. So my hand washing skills in the shower came into play. Ah yes, the shower, there is a transit hotel where we have rented a room for the night. So no sleeping on the chairs in the departure lounge. Woohoo! The adventure continues!

As I type this some Bollywood music has come on, and gorgeous George aka Ric has decided to jump around. Yes we may lose it before the 25 hours is up!

Now we have to learn how to upload pics to the blog from this iPad which is not as user friendly as one might think!!!!!

Off to brush my teeth with bottled water.
Ais

FYI
A friend asked a valid question, why are we in the airport for so long? Conditions for entering India as a tourist states that one can not visit more than once within a 2 month period. Our tour brings us back overland from Nepal through to Varansi in 8 days time eventually flying out of Delhi on the 19th September hence our need to stay in transit so we
don't waste our visa. This has been achieved through many emails to 2 Indian high Commissions as Well as a visit to the visa attaché while in London as well as talking to virgin staff and jet airways as well as the staff here at the transit hotel. But we have been able to make it happen thankfully. It helped to do a lot of Research prior and use the right names.

Day 1 1/09

He said....

I cant breathe, my eyes are streaming and my nose is running...get me back to the tropics. I have a man cold which is totally debilitating, but I'm soldiering on.


I have a 35lb bag of vacuum packed clothes, because that's what they said to do on the travel books. Ais is Spinning...I'm about to post home the last of my "UK" clothes because they cant come with.


We fly tonight to Delhi - I booked Premium Economy because tall people don't fly economy! India tomorrow and 24hrs in transit hotel quarantine as we are en-route to Kathmandu and only have a single entry visa.


I'm looking forward to pooping my body weight and playing join the dots with the mosquito bites, I never really took a fancy to India, ever since they invented call centres, however Nepal and the Himalayas...(smiley icon, thumbs up)...did I pack my thermals?